EU referendum uncertainty has seen the pound drop again to just €1.26 and $1.41, increasing the potential cost for many holidaymakers. So it's never been more important to ensure you get the most buck for your bang.

Most people pay to pay when away - with hidden charges that can add £100s over a holiday. So I've a broad range of tips to slash these costs.

1.

New. Try our free TravelMoneyMax app. Building on the TMM website's success, our new app's now fully up and running for summer. It shows YOUR cheapest way to spend abroad - just download the free TMM iPhone app or TMM Android app. It will...

- Compare 40 bureaux for the cheapest travel cash. Tell it how many euros, dollars, ringgits etc & it finds who's cheapest, incl fees. Plus select 'collection' & you can limit it to those within a set distance.

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Uniquely, when away, it shows YOUR best way to pay. It's also a personalised currency calc where you can store the plastic you already have, and what you paid for your holiday cash. Then whenever you buy something it'll tell you how much it really costs, and what's the cheapest way to pay.
PS: We first tested the apps last Oct - ta for the plain-speaking feedback. Our new version THIS WEEK has fixed those glitches, but do feed back to us on what you think and how well it works.

2.

Save over £100 per €1,000 spend. Whatever the rate of the currency you're using, don't throw more money away by paying the wrong way. I'll run through each top option below, but first, to show the scale of possible savings:

The EASY solution: Near-perfect rates in every country, every time, and extra protection. Most debit and credit card firms get a near-perfect exchange rate from Mastercard or Visa, but then add a 3%-ish 'non-sterling exchange fee' to what they charge us, so £100 of euros costs you £103.

Yet a few specialist credit cards have no exchange fee, so we get the same near-perfect rate the banks get, converted on the day you spend. Pocket one of these, only for use abroad, ensuring you repay IN FULL each month to minimise interest. My top picks are...
- Long-term winner: Halifax Clarity (eligibility calc / apply*) has good feedback and a) It's a Mastercard, which tends to win on the underlying exchange rate - see rates compared. b) It has low fees for cash withdrawals.
- Slightly cheaper at ATMs: The Creation Everyday (apply*) is similar, but cash withdrawals are a touch cheaper. We've little feedback though (let us know).
- Easy-to-get card, but bad for ATMs: The Aqua card (eligibility calc / apply*) has no exchange fee and 0.5% cashback on spending, and it accepts some with past CCJs/defaults. But ATM withdrawals have high fees & high interest.
The Golden Rules. Full info: Top Overseas Cards (APR Examples).
1) Pay on the card - it's cheaper than withdrawing cash to spend.
2) Clear IN FULL or these cards are 18.9%, 12.9% & 34.9% rep APR.
3) You usually pay interest on ATM withdrawals (not spending) even if you clear in full. Factor that in and still Halifax and Creation will beat most bureaux.
Extra protection: With credit cards (not debit, prepay or cash) you get Section 75 protection on all spending over £100, incl abroad, so if problems occur with what you bought, the card firm must sort it.

4.

New. The Supercard's back - if you can't get/don't want a credit card. The Travelex Supercard* is a hybrid card ANYONE can get, as there's no credit check (they do ID-check you though). Full info in Supercard analysis, but in brief...

1) Via its app, link it to your existing debit or credit cards (not Amex).
2) Spend on it abroad.
3) It charges your plastic in pounds, at that day's Mastercard exchange rate with no added fee, making it far cheaper than spending direct on most cards.

Some of you will have had a Supercard as part of a limited
trial last year. If so, you need to reapply for the new card. The big difference is it now has a 2.99% fee for cash withdrawals, so while the exchange rate's the same as the top specialist credit cards, it's costlier for cash.

Plus you don't get the added Section 75 protection with Supercard, even if you link it to a credit card. However if you link it to a card that pays you cashback or rewards, you will get those.

5.

£60 of euros for £50 on top PREPAID cards (anyone can get one). With prepaid cards, you load cash, use 'em like a debit card - and there's no credit check.
The rates can be very good, but unlike the options above, you get them on the day you load, not spend, so for good or ill you're at the mercy of currency fluctuations.
- Top pick for dollars, euros and a few others: The first 3,000 signing up via this WeSwap* link get an extra £10 when loading £50+. Plus it'll give you the perfect interbank exchange rate for a year, provided you wait a week for the conversion to happen (normally there's a 1% fee for this). There's no ATM fee if you withdraw over equiv of £200 but there is for less. Full analysis: WeSwap.
- Top pick for other currencies: The Revolut card* gives the perfect interbank rate for more currencies, with no fees on spending or ATM withdrawals (up to £500/mth, 2% above that). Sign up and use the code MSE for an extra £5 when loading £500+. Full analysis:Revolut.

For more help and to see how prepaid cards stack up against the top credit cards, see Cheap Prepaid Cards.

6.

Should I buy euros before the EU vote? And other key questions...

Q. Should I buy euros before the EU referendum? Ah, now there's a pickle, so it needs a full answer - see my Buy euros before the EU vote? analysis.

Q. When they ask 'do you want to pay in pounds or euros', what do I say? In a nutshell you pay in euros. Full help in my Pay in euros? blog.Q. Will withdrawing cash abroad hurt my credit file? On the right card it's cheap, but there's a possible impact - see Withdrawing abroad.
Q. Why've I been charged extra at a bureau de change? Pay on a credit card & it counts as a cash withdrawal - full help in Paying at bureaux.

7.

If you're thinking 'I thought I had a top specialist card?' My two top-pick credit cards aren't the only decent ones, just the very best. Other specialist cards aren't Mastercards &/or have higher ATM costs. If you already have one of these, it's still cheap & not worth swapping...

Also, the Norwich & Peterborough Gold Classic current account has a load-free worldwide Visa debit card with no ATM fees - possibly beating even the credit cards. But it's more hassle - you need to pay in £500+/mth (or keep £5,000 in there) to avoid a £5/mth fee. More info in Top overseas debit cards.

8.

Is your bank card an overseas DEBIT CARD FROM HELL? Not only do they add around 3% to the exchange rate & an ATM fee, they also charge up to £1.50 every time you use the card to spend overseas.

DO YOU HAVE A DEBIT CARD FROM HELL?Bank of Scotland | Halifax | Lloyds | Santander
TSB | NatWest/RBS (hell for small spends) | Clydesdale/Yorkshire

Just want cheap cash? DON'T leave it till the airport. Airport and ferry-port rates are usually atrocious, as they know you're a captive customer. Use TravelMoneyMax to find a cheaper deal, or, if you've left it too late, at least pre-order in advance online for airport pick-up to get a better rate.

10.

Take a peek inside my overseas wallet. Are you part of the 'overseas wallet or purse' club? I most certainly am. After all, there are some things you only need when abroad. The first is a specialist credit card - these tend to be pretty poor for UK use, so mine lives in the wallet till I go away. To find out what else is in there, take a peek inside my overseas travel wallet.

Many are paying interest unnecessarily. A balance transfer card pays off existing credit and store cards for you, so you owe it instead, but at 0%. That means repayments clear the actual debt rather than just paying interest, so you're debt-free quicker. And two new table topping deals have just launched, matching the longest 0% deal, but with lower fees.

(i) Must transfer at least £500, otherwise you get 22mths 0% (if accepted)

Tip 1: Go for the lowest fee in the time you're sure you can repay. Most 0% cards charge a fee to transfer your balance, eg, 2.5% is £25 per £1,000 shifted. So calculate how long you think you'll take to clear the debt, add a bit for safety, then pick the lowest fee within that time. Unsure? Play safe and go long, even with a bigger fee.

Tip 2: Some are 'up to' 0%s, so you may get a shorter deal. That's why we include the best non 'up-to' options. If the eligibility calc suggests you've good odds of getting these, unlike the others, you know what you'll get.

Balance Transfer Golden Rules. Full help, get cashback & ALL best buys: Balance Transfers (APR Examples).
a) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you can lose the 0% deal and it'll cost far more.
b) Clear the card or balance-transfer again before the 0% ends, or the rate rockets to the higher APR.
c) Don't spend/withdraw cash on these. It usually isn't at the cheap rate and cash withdrawals hit your credit file.

If you've got or had a packaged bank account, eg, Barclays Additions, Lloyds Platinum or NatWest Select, where you paid £10-£20/mth for extras incl travel insurance, you may be owed £1,000s. Some choose them for the right reasons (see Top Packaged Bank Accounts) but many were hard-sold them by incentivised sales staff, when they weren't suitable. There's full help in our Reclaim Packaged Accounts guide, incl our free tool. Here's your brief...

What counts as mis-selling? If it's bad value, cancel it. To get money back though, it has to have been mis-sold. See our full Mis-selling checklist incl 1) The cover wasn't valid for you, eg, you were offered travel insurance but were over the age limit / had pre-existing conditions. 2) You were wrongly told you needed the account to get a loan, mortgage or overdraft.
3) You were upgraded without your permission, or without being given fee-free options.

Easy, free reclaim tool now used by 63,000 people. Last Sep we launched our Packaged Bank Account Reclaim Tool; it's part of our collaboration with complaints site Resolver (see our Resolver guide), merging our template letters & experience with its technology. All you do is enter your details and it helps draft the complaint, sends it, keeps track & escalates it to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Reclaiming overdraft charges is possible too. If you've been charged for breaching your overdraft (on any account, not just fee-paying) and it's put you in financial hardship, you may be able to reclaim these too. See Bank Charge Reclaiming.

If your four-legged friends aren't well, vet bills can be frightening. The average single claim's hit a whopping £720 - and 5 years' arthritis help can cost over £6,000. Much is about your attitude to pet health - if you'd 'make 'em better at all costs', pet insurance is the key safety net. As forumite RobertinHerts says: "Horrified at renewal quote of £254 for my cat. Went to MSE, new policy for £145." Full help in Cheap Pet Insurance - here's a litter of quick tips...

1) Need cover but can't afford it? If you're on benefits, the charity PDSA may help with vets' bills.
2) You're liable for your dog's behaviour, not your cat's. Cats are legally 'free spirits', dogs aren't - if they injure people or damage property, you're liable. So check your policy has 3rd-party cover. If not, Dogs Trust is £25/yr.
3) Could you self-insure? Put money into savings, enough to cover fees. See Should I insure my pet? for more.
4) If your pet's had treatment, beware switching. Most insurers won't cover your pet for any illness they've already been treated for. See Pre-existing conditions for full help.
5) Don't forget routine jabs. If you do, it could invalidate your insurance. See Annual injections for more.

MSE users prefer cheap drugs. Unsurprisingly for such a money-savvy polling sample, of the 19,268 who voted in our poll last week, 73% buy the cheapest medicine they can regardless of brand. Those most likely to buy branded items such as Nurofen were men under 30, with 9% of them doing so. See the cheap medicine poll.

Q: I've used my Help to Buy ISA for a house. Can I now open a cash ISA this tax year, or do I have to wait until next?

MSE Rosie's A: Yes, you can open a cash ISA now, once you've closed your Help to Buy ISA.

Normally you can only pay new money in to one cash ISA per tax year (Help to Buy counts as a cash ISA), but a little-known exception to the rule is that you're allowed to pay in to a second (but no more), if you've fully closed the first, not just emptied it.

In your case, to get the bonus to buy a home you would have needed to close the Help to Buy ISA anyway. So you're free to open a new cash ISA this tax year.

That's it for this week, but before we go, are you a property site junkie (even if you've no intention of buying)? If so, you'll love the forum's Have a look at this thread, where compulsive Rightmove browsers share their top finds - from Playboy mansion-like pads to working toilets in wardrobes and mysterious presences under bedcovers...

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How this site works

We think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of the site. We're a journalistic website and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques, but can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong.

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

Do note, while we always aim to give you accurate product info at the point of publication, unfortunately price and terms of products and deals can always be changed by the provider afterwards, so double check first.

We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned (how likely they are to go bust), but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips).

We often link to other websites, but we can't be responsible for their content.

Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion.

MoneySavingExpert.com is part of the MoneySupermarket Group, but is entirely editorially independent. Its stance of putting consumers first is protected and enshrined in the legally-binding MSE Editorial Code.